#13 Don’t just celebrate a holiday the day of, but also celebrate it the day before and after*

Mozambicans sure are party animals of the world. Not only do they love to party on their holidays, but they love to celebrate their holidays the day before and after just for good measure. As much as it sounds like a great idea to make every single-day holiday into a raging three-day affair, it’s actually quite unproductive. Take school for an example. The day before a holiday, everything shuts down at 12pm. It’s their idea of respectfully observing the holiday. Hardly anyone in the afternoon before goes to school and the same for the day after. It’s seen as a day of rest to recover from all the partying the day before. On the following day school attendance is a bit better, but still difficult to actually teach a decent lesson since 75% of the class is missing. * The only exception to this rule is Teacher’s Day. Oh, of course you must be thinking that because teachers deep down inside want to educate their students, that this must be the only holiday where it doesn’t turn into a three-day event. What other better way to celebrate our hard work by doing what we love the most, teaching. Wrong. They go bigger. A one-day holiday because at least 5. Unlike the swept under the rug, Teachers Appreciation Day, back in the states, here in Mozambique it’s a big, big deal. All it is though is an excuse to drink. Drink on Teacher’s Day. Drink on the day before, drink the day after, and why not, drink the whole week before it. WE NEED the whole week off, because we do work very hard the 2, 3 or 4 days a week we actually do go.